


glued to the tv

by regionals



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Smut, a little bit of tho, and perhaps a bit of uh, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-09-28 03:24:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17174930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regionals/pseuds/regionals
Summary: “I think it might be best if I just stay home and have myself a little pity party, man.” Tyler sighs, and lets his spoon clink against the mug a little louder than necessary as he continues stirring.“Oh, c’mon. Pity parties suck. Seriously, you should come over tomorrow around noon. Skip out on all the gift-giving, yet still be here for dinner and all that fun stuff. You could hang out with Jordan. He’s single—”“You arenottrying to set me up with yourbrother,”Tyler hisses. “Please tell me you’re joking.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edy/gifts), [violetjosh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetjosh/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Wood Chips](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16952877) by [edy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edy/pseuds/edy). 



“ _You looking forward to Christmas?”_

Tyler scoffs, and adjusts his phone as he stirs coffee creamer into a mug of hot chocolate. “I’m recently divorced and my parents won’t talk to me. What do you think?”

“ _Alright, alright; that was a lousy question. I’m man enough to admit that.”_ Tyler hears shuffling on the other end, something kind of like paper crinkling, and he can imagine that Josh is wrapping presents. _“You should come over.”_

“Yes, I’ll come over and sit through presents and dinner with your family.” He rolls his eyes. “What would I do, if I came over? Your parents are going to be fawning over you and Deborah, as are your siblings, I’m sure.”

“ _You’re more than welcome to fawn over us too.”_

“I already have,” Tyler points out. “I think it might be best if I just stay home and have myself a little pity party, man.” He sighs, and lets his spoon clink against the mug a little louder than necessary as he continues stirring.

“ _Oh, c’mon. Pity parties suck. Seriously, you should come over tomorrow around noon. Skip out on all the gift-giving, yet still be here for dinner and all that fun stuff. You could hang out with Jordan. He’s single—”_

“You are _not_ trying to set me up with your _brother,_ _”_ Tyler hisses. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Tyler’s response comes in the form of tape being pulled from a tape dispenser.

“Say ‘sike,’ or I’m going to fight you.”

“ _I’m not committing myself to anything either way. I just think that maybe it’d be nice to have you in the family.”_ Tyler knows that Josh is teasing him.

“My divorce was finalized in _October!_ _”_ Tyler exclaims incredulously.

“ _And? Man, look—I was joking. Jordan would probably kill me if I tried to set you and him up.”_

“He’s too young for me anyways.”

“ _He’s older than Jenna.”_

“You’re like a fucking cat. So stubborn and ornery. Also, Jenna’s a year older than him.”

“ _Still. Meow meow, bitch.”_

Tyler starts cackling. “Shut up. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll see what I can do.”

*

Tyler genuinely doesn’t plan to show up at Josh’s parents’ home, but around noon, he groans loudly and shuffles around his bedroom, dragging out an ugly Christmas sweater from the depths of his closet, and whichever pair of sweatpants his hand touches first when he reaches into a laundry basket. He spares himself a once-over in the mirror in his bathroom, and contemplates running a comb through his hair for all of two seconds before shrugging, saying ‘fuck it,’ to himself, and trekking downstairs to grab his keys, his shoes, and his coat.

Josh’s family welcome him with open arms—why wouldn’t they—and he feels a little less bummed. The reality of his situation hits him again, though, when Debby approaches him while he’s getting himself a glass of water to ask, “How are you holding up, bud?”

“Not well,” he supplies, nice and simple. “My relationship with the woman who was arguably the love of my life fell apart, and my parents aren’t speaking to me, because a divorce is just _that_ shameful to them, so, y’know. Not well.”

She sighs and her face shifts to something a little more sympathetic. “Not every relationship is meant to be, and I’m sure you’ll find your person some day, Ty.”

“The only other person who could be my person is engaged. To you.” Tyler’s half joking, but he’s being half truthful too.

Debby still snorts and laughs. “If we break up again, you can have him. I promise.” She holds her pinky up, and Tyler hooks his own around it, trying not to eyeball her engagement ring too hard.

“Thanks, Deb.”

*

Tyler’s on his second glass of wine and standing on the patio, after dinner, giving a glassy, dead-eyed stare to the snow that’s falling from the sky. He hears the sliding glass door open from behind him, then sees Jim bolt into the yard to roll around in the snow, and to do his business, so he assumes it’s Josh that’s outside, at least until Jordan’s asking, “How many invasive questions do people ask you about the divorce?”

“Too many. I’m running out of ways to say that it just wasn’t working, and that no one’s at fault. People are so quick to blame someone for everything.”

Jordan laughs, and Tyler’s mind decides to remind him of Josh’s sneaky attempt to _set them up._ He has a nice laugh, to be fair. “I couldn’t imagine going through a divorce, especially with _your_ life.”

“You know, man, there’s still a lot of love between me and Jenna, and despite everything there’s no hard feelings, and that’s really all I could ask for. I could also ask for tabloids to stop making shit _up,_ _”_ He uses his wine glass hand to gesture, “but still.”

“I think getting a divorce was the right decision, honestly. Like… Why stay in a relationship if it isn’t working, you know? No one can fault either of you for that.”

Tyler almost chokes on a sip of wine as he rushes to say, “Apparently my parents can. They haven’t spoken to me since the divorce was finalized.”

“That’s stupid.” It is. Jordan shouts a warning at Jim, who’s wandering a little too far for comfort. “Why haven’t they talked to you?”

“Something about the sanctity of marriage and about how divorce is wrong. Who the fuck knows.” Tyler takes a few more swigs from his wine glass. “You’d think they wouldn’t give a shit about that, what with all the affairs my dad’s had over the years.”

Jordan snorts.

Tyler smacks his hand across his mouth and gives Jordan a wide-eyed sort of look. He’s a little drunk. “No one knows about that except for you and Jenna.”

Jordan mimes a zipping and locking motion, throwing away the pretend key. “My lips are sealed. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“You’re a good man, Jordan.” Tyler pats his shoulder.

Jordan can’t help the giggle that passes his lips. “Thanks, Drunkie.”

*

Everyone settles into the living room to watch a Christmas movie.

Tyler gravitates towards Jordan, and ignores the look that Josh, Debby, Ashley, and Abigail give him.

Their parents are none the wiser.

Tyler falls asleep on Jordan’s arm. He’s soft and warm and doesn’t mind.

*

Debby’s in North America, Tyler isn’t sure where, filming the second season of Insatiable.

They’re in Kiev.

Josh is conveniently missing—sight seeing with Mark and Brad—and Tyler’s sitting on his bus with Jordan, bopping him on the head with a bug net in _Animal Crossing: New Leaf._

Tyler sniffs, nose running since it’s winter and they’re in the northern hemisphere this time, and Jordan gets straight to the point as he takes a swig from his paper coffee cup. “Josh keeps trying to set us up, right? I’m not the only one that’s noticed it?”

Tyler’s on vocal rest, so he taps the speech bubble on the bottom of the screen on his 3DS, and types, _“ive noticed.”_

It takes a few seconds for it to pop up on Jordan’s screen, with a tiny little ding. “He’s such an asshole. He’s my brother, so I can say that.”

“ _hes my best friend,”_ comes Tyler’s first message. _“i can say it too. asshole.”_

Jordan smiles down at his 3DS and laughs a bit.

“ _ur a little young for me.”_

“Barely a year younger than Jenna. Am I really?”

“ _are you really hitting on me?”_

“I’m a clout chaser,” he deadpans.

Tyler snorts, and whispers, “Shut up,” before bopping Jordan’s Animal Crossing character in the head with his net again.

Jordan sprints over a patch of flowers, in the game, destroying three of them.

Tyler reaches over with his leg to knock his 3DS out of his hands. It lands on the couch next to him.

“If I was a different person, I’d throw my coffee on you for that.”

Tyler smiles fake-sweetly.

*

Tyler’s been in roughly two relationships in his life. Two _real_ ones, two that he counts.

The first was with Josh when they were in their early twenties. It was an on again off again sort of thing, and they were never really exclusive, and sometimes they still exchange a few kisses on the cheeks, but they aren’t star crossed lovers and if Tyler were to say anything, he’d say that their ships had passed in the night.

The second was with Jenna, of course. They met and fell in love and she understood the whole _thing_ with Josh and didn’t mind and she was a fucking angel and Tyler sometimes hates himself for being unable to make things work.

They still text sometimes. She’s still on Tyler’s phone plan. Tyler feels weird if he goes more than a week without at _least_ saying hi to her.

It’s the day after the Moscow show—an off day, even if that day is spent traveling and setting up for the show in Saint Petersburg, and Jenna texts him at nine in the morning.

*

**Jenna:** Good morning!

**Tyler:** isnt it 1am in ohio? sleep, please.

**Jenna:** Can’t sleep. I’m baking and it made me think of you.

**Jenna:** Is it weird that I feel sad about everything, even though I don’t want to be in that place again?

**Tyler:** i don’t think so. i still feel sad about it too. daily, actually. maybe when we’re old and wrinkly we can get back together. it’d make a good movie.

**Tyler:** josh keeps trying to set me up with someone. you know how when he’s hinting at something and he’s not at all subtle about it? he’s doing that.

**Jenna:** Haha @ the movie thing. I do know how he does that, though. Who is he trying to set you up with?

**Tyler:** you won’t believe me.

**Jenna:** Try me

**Tyler:** jordan. fucking. jordan.

**Jenna:** I shriek-laughed. I didn’t know Jordan swung that way.

**Tyler:** i didn’t either until josh tried setting me up with him and until jordan hit on me. i don’t think he’s gay but he’s definitely not straight. kind of like me.

**Jenna:** Honestly, I can kind of see it. Debby sunk her claws into one Dun, so you can sink your claws into the other one.

**Tyler:** i laughed. i might go for it.

**Jenna:** Please do

**Jenna:** I think the two of you would be cute together anyways. :)

**Tyler:** aah stop. i’m going to blush.

**Jenna:** Good. >:)

*

The day before Valentine’s day, Tyler finds a few hours free, and uses those few hours to throw on some sunglasses and a hat before slipping out and getting an Uber to what he prays is a candy shop.

He chats with his Uber driver in broken German, and leaves the ride with a few more German words in his vocabulary.

He doesn’t get anything too obvious.

In fact, it could be seen as a friend giving a friend some candy.

He doesn’t get a heart shaped box of chocolate, but he sees a box of Kinder bars, and grabs them off of the shelf, hoping that Jordan likes chocolate and milk flavored things.

*

Jordan knows what Tyler means by the Kinder bars. He doesn’t say anything, since Josh is sitting next to him, sleeping, and since Brad is nearby, looking at something on his laptop, but he does give Tyler an adorable, flattered looking look.

Tyler shrugs and mumbles, “Valentine’s.”

Brad doesn’t hear him, and Josh sleeps like a rock. Jim does glance back and forth between him and Jordan, though.

“Thanks, Tyler.” Jordan smiles.

*

Jordan sleeps on Tyler’s bus on the actual night of Valentine’s.

Nothing happens.

He brings a rose and a Kinder egg.

They have a laughing fit when the toy inside winds up being a plastic vulture. Tyler crams it into his suitcase, and they fall asleep on the bed in the back of the bus, tangled in each other’s limbs, trying not to freeze to death under the duvet.

*

There’s four days off between Austria and Italy.

They’re busy and there isn’t a lot of free time in Tyler’s schedule, but he still finds a few hours to squeeze in a date.

It’s a shitty date in Tyler’s hotel room, sharing tiny liquor bottles from the mini bar and laughing at dumb jokes and tour horror stories, but it’s a date nonetheless.

Tyler walks Jordan back to his room, like a gentleman, and after making sure that the hallway is clear and that they aren’t being watched, he gives him a quick kiss. He’s tired and he figures they’ll have more chances to have real kisses.

*

Josh is out doing what Tyler calls a _PR_ run when they’re in London, and he’s in his dressing room on the floor on his back with a pillow over his eyes.

Jim is doing what he does best, even if Josh isn’t around to tell him to do it. He lies on top of Tyler’s chest, to get him to stop hyperventilating, and Tyler can sense that Jordan’s nearby. (Well, it’s less that he senses him, and more that Jordan announces his presence before sitting on the floor with his knees drawn to his chest next to where Tyler’s lying down. He doesn’t touch Tyler, because Tyler asks him not to.)

He’s only ever let Josh or Jenna sit with him while he’s had anxiety attacks before.

Jordan asks him if he’s okay and Tyler doesn’t feel like talking.

He has one hand buried in Jim’s fur and feels around with his other hand until it bumps into Jordan’s knee. He holds his palm upright, and flexes his fingers a few times. Jordan gets the hint to hold his hand.

“If you need me to help you with breathing exercises or something… Or get you water or medications, I can totally do that.”

Jordan’s nice and Tyler wonders to himself if Josh’s family is just _nice._ (He doesn’t really have to wonder, because he knows.) (Tyler also can’t help but to mentally compare Josh and Jordan. Whereas Josh would be tripping over himself to try and help Tyler, Jordan is more subtle about it. He doesn’t push him or boss him around and Tyler kind of likes it.)

Tyler’s voice is hoarse and he feels Jim’s head lift up when he says, “Water.”

Jordan’s hand disappears and Tyler can feel his footsteps vibrating through the floor. He hears a fridge opening and a bottle cap being twisted off of a bottle of water, and then Jordan’s on the floor again. “Sit up.”

Tyler nudges Jim off, and grabs the pillow to throw it a few feet away from himself before sitting up. His legs are straight and the position is uncomfortable as he uses his hands to apply pressure against his eyes, which are stinging and itchy and irritated.

Jordan presses the water bottle against his arm and Tyler shivers a little bit from it.

He kind of likes how it feels, but he knows it’ll do him more good in his body than _on_ his body. He takes the bottle and even though Jordan tells him to sip it, he downs half of it in one go.

“I mean, that’s not a sip, but whatever works, y’know?”

Jim rolls onto his back and his tongue lolls out of the side of his mouth and Tyler scratches his cheek.

They sit there in silence for a few minutes, Tyler mindlessly petting Jim and focusing on the texture of his fur, before he thinks to ask, “Aren’t you going to ask me to talk about it?”

“Nah. If you want to, go ahead, but I’m not your therapist, and sometimes anxiety attacks happen.”

“Sick,” he mumbles. He’s glad that Jordan doesn’t want to make him talk.

Jim licks his hand.

Jordan squeezes his shoulder.

*

Interviews put Tyler on edge. He gets roped into one and sure, Josh is with him and Josh is more than happy to man the ship and to answer as many questions as he can, but there’s one that he can’t answer in Tyler’s place. “Are you seeing anyone?”

He can’t say that he’s entirely surprised by the invasive question. This journalist specifically isn’t the most professional and has already asked a few too many questions that neither of them are entirely comfortable answering. Tyler’s default answer is to reach over, squeeze Josh’s knee, and to say, “I’ve been casually seeing someone for a few months, now.” It’s not a lie, when he thinks about it, but he knows that the journalist is going to think that he’s joking and that he’s implying that he’s having an affair with Josh. At the least, he figures it’ll give the shippers something to run with.

Josh giggles, just as he always does.

The journalist quirks an eyebrow, and asks Tyler if he’s implying what she thinks he’s implying.

“I’m implying whatever you _want_ me to be implying.”

“And what does… your fiance think about this, Josh?”

He laughs more, and says, “Oh, she’s cool with it. She understands it—just guys being dudes.”

*

“So—you _are_ seeing Jordan?” Josh leans over Tyler’s piano, and Tyler just looks up at him to give him a dead in the eyes sort of look.

“I don’t know if you could call it that.” Tyler presses down on a few keys on his piano, playing a little tune. “I also don’t know if I feel comfortable talking to you about my friendship and slash or my relationship with your _brother._ Isn’t that weird?”

“I listened to my sister describe the damage having a kid had on her nether regions. I think I can hear about you having a crush on my brother.” Josh rests his chin in the palm of his hand.

“I never said I had a crush on him.”

“Can’t you give me something?”

Tyler plays the first five seconds or so of _Welcome To The Black Parade,_ and he probably would’ve played more, but Josh reaches down to smash on a few of the keys himself to interrupt him.

“Don’t play that song while I’m trying to get information out of you. That’s not allowed.”

“Dude, we’re touring. Even when I _do_ have the free time, I don’t have the energy to go on _dates_ or try to do anything with him anyways. We exchanged candy on Valentine’s, and had a date in my hotel room a week later. That’s all that’s happened. Doesn’t he talk to you?”

“The last time I tried he told me to ‘fuck off’ until I left him alone.”

Tyler can’t help but to laugh, because— “That sounds about right.”

*

They’re somewhere between Madrid and Lisbon and during a brief moment of signal, Tyler gets a text message from Jordan. _“josh is being annoying.”_

Tyler takes a break from playing Minecraft on his laptop to respond to him. _“yeah? how so?”_

It’s another fifteen minutes later when he gets an answer. _“keeps asking about you. there’s only so many ways i can tell him to mind his own business.”_

Tyler can imagine it. _“at least he cares, i guess. tell him i told him to shut up.”_

“ _told me to tell you to suck his ass.”_

“’ _no you.’ i’m a genius.”_

“ _haha. he made a face and flipped me off. ill see u at the next rest stop. nap time.”_

*

There’s a few weeks off between the South American leg of the tour and the second North American leg. Tyler plans to spend those few weeks playing whatever video game piques his interest and inevitably scribbling lyrics down in old notebooks when he finds himself awake and alone with his thoughts late at night since jet lag is a bitch.

He doesn’t plan on Jordan inviting him over for dinner.

He doesn’t even know what to _expect_ from Jordan inviting him over for dinner. He’s in the middle of taking his mini Christmas tree down when he gets the message. It’s a simple message.

“ _dinner. my place. be there or be square.”_

It’s also followed by another message.

“ _if you’re not busy, of course. i hope you’re not.”_

*

Dinner winds up being at two in the morning since neither of them have any concept of time.

Tyler doesn’t mind.

They eat bowls of stew on Jordan’s couch and watch reruns of _The Walking Dead._

They don’t talk a whole lot, and Tyler, quite frankly, enjoys the companionship. Jordan’s leg is thrown over his and once their empty bowls are on the coffee table, Tyler holds his hand.

They bond over a mutual crush on Steven Yeun and Tyler falls asleep on Jordan’s shoulder again.

*

Tyler is not surprised when he gets on Twitter and is bombarded with photos of himself taking a nap on Jordan’s shoulder at an airport in Mexico. Jordan’s shoulder isn’t that comfortable, but he stays still and he’s _warm_ and doesn’t mind Tyler using him as a human pillow. He’s also more than happy to lend Tyler his arm to hold onto whenever he wants to take a nap while sitting somewhere and all Tyler has to say about the various photos that some slimy pap had gotten of him and Jordan is, _“duns have comfortable shoulders.”_

*

There isn’t some huge discussion that leads to Jordan sleeping on Tyler’s bus.

Debby and Josh take up the bedroom on Josh’s bus and Tyler doesn’t have a wife anymore to take up the other half of the bed on his own bus, so when Jordan walks on with his suitcase, looking exhausted, asking, “Mind if I crash with you?” Tyler just shrugs and tells him that they can share the bed in the back.

They stay on their own sides of the bed for maybe half an hour before Tyler scoots backwards, and reaches behind himself to rouse Jordan. Jordan makes a curious humming noise, wondering what Tyler wants.

“C’mere,” is all he says.

Jordan doesn’t need further instructions before he’s scooting forward and pressing himself against Tyler’s backside. The bed rocks gently from the bus and usually it sort of bothers Tyler, but, admittedly, the feeling of having a man holding onto him is something he finds comforting. He sleeps easily.

*

They’re in Winnipeg and for whatever reason, Debby is in Tyler’s dressing room. She’s tidying things a little bit and it reminds Tyler of Jenna. Both of them share the need to turn everywhere they go into a home. Tyler’s on his phone, waiting for venue staff to tell him it’s _go time,_ and she says, “So, Jordan’s sleeping on your bus now…?”

“Did Josh send you in here to bug me about Jordan?” He asks.

“That, and I’m curious as well.”

“The bed in the back is more comfortable than the bunks,” he supplies. “Can you blame him?”

“You share the bed with him?”

Tyler makes the mistake of making eye contact with her in the mirror. Her eyebrows are raised. He rolls his eyes. “I shared a bed with Josh for years before we got separate buses.”

She gives him a pointed look. “I know the two of you were, at the very least, fucking, so don’t try that.”

“Of course he told you,” Tyler mutters. He looks back down at his phone. “It was more than that.”

“I know that too.”

“Why are you two so bent on me and Jordan? If it happens, it happens, man. I don’t want to force it.”

“We’re just curious, because both of you are shut like steel traps.” She pouts a little bit. “C’mon.”

“If anything notable happens, you’ll be the third to know.”

“Who’s the first?”

“Jordan, then Josh, and Josh will tell you.”

*

They’re somewhere between Ottawa and Montreal when Tyler remembers his favorite part of cuddling with another guy. He’s tired and his limbs feel heavy but he can’t sleep and he knows Jordan isn’t asleep, mostly since he can hear his phone vibrating from him typing somewhere near Tyler’s head. That, and there’s a dick pressing against his backside.

Jordan isn’t trying to hide it. When Tyler scoots his ass back against him, Jordan’s hand comes to rest on his hip for a few moments, as if to tell him to hold still, before his hand goes back to his phone.

Tyler picks his own phone up, and types out, _“you can’t just have your dick right there and not expect me to do anything about it,”_ into the notepad app, before holding it up to where Jordan can see it. Tyler can picture him squinting at the phone, trying to see the words without his contacts in, before he snorts.

“Yes I can,” comes his quiet response to Tyler. “You’re the one rubbing your ass against it in the first place.” His voice is so soft and low and kind of grumbly. Tyler likes it. He could listen to him talk forever. “If we were in an actual bedroom, I’d be more willing.”

“I can be quiet.”

“Can you?” Jordan sounds like he doesn’t believe him.

“Do you know how many times I’ve gotten fucked in a tour bus? Worst case scenario I bite the shit out of my pillow.” Tyler arches his back a tiny bit and Jordan sighs. “It’s only me, you, Mark, and the driver. Driver signed an NDA and Mark’s seen everything when it comes to me getting laid.”

“I didn’t think Mark was into that.”

Tyler reaches behind himself to smack Jordan’s thigh.

Jordan yawns, and Tyler hears him turn his phone screen off. “Do you have lube?”

Tyler leans off the side of the bed, and his hand comes into contact with his duffel bag within seconds. (To be fair, the back of a tour bus isn’t exactly _huge.)_ He tugs it towards himself, and feels around until he finds the zipper to the pouch on it. He knows himself well enough to keep a travel sized bottle of lube and a strip of condoms with him at all times.

He half doesn’t want to hand him a condom, but he’s exhausted and condoms make for easier clean up, so he tears one off of the strip and hands it back to Jordan along with the bottle of lube.

Jordan’s done this before. Tyler can tell. He doesn’t ask any questions and he doesn’t need Tyler to tell him what to do. Tyler does say, “No hickeys,” when he feels Jordan sucking on the side of his neck, though. “Not that I don’t love them—”

“The fans would turn it into a witch hunt?” He has two fingers in Tyler’s ass, and Tyler nods into his pillow.

“Yeah. Maybe during the next break.”

Jordan slides a third finger in, and it’s not too much later when Tyler’s batting his hand away, mumbling, “You can fuck me now.”

Tyler’s on his back and he’s in the middle of a yawn when Jordan’s pressing into him. He apologizes after a few minutes of gentle thrusting and kissing. “Sorry about not moving, or doing anything.”

“It’s cool. You’re tired.”

Tyler feels Jordan’s hand on his cheek, and he leans into it a little bit.

*

Tyler doesn’t tell Josh about sleeping with Jordan, mostly because he feels weird about it. He does tell Jenna, though, and she congratulates him and asks him when the wedding is. It makes him laugh.

*

Grand Rapids, Michigan is where Josh decides to pester Tyler about Jordan next. The difference is that this time, Tyler’s tucked into Jordan’s side, on the couch in his dressing room, sipping from a Starbucks cup he’d filled with an energy drink and watching Jordan play a game on his phone.

Josh enters the room, and Tyler glances at him before looking back to Jordan’s phone. Jordan’s fingers toy with the hem of his sweatshirt, hand heavy and comforting on Tyler’s hip. Josh makes a noise in his throat, and he steps up to them.

Tyler looks up at him again and his eyes stay on him for a few seconds longer before, yet again, looking back to Jordan’s phone. Jordan’s a little more rude—he doesn’t pay attention to Josh at all.

“Are the two of you together?”

At the same time as Jordan says, “Fuck off, Josh,” Tyler says, “Go away or I’m kicking out of the band.”

“Warner would never let you do that, Tyler, and also, _you_ fuck off, Jordan.” Josh gets Jordan in the shin with the tip of his sneaker.

Jordan reaches forward to sock him in the thigh.

Josh is about to get him back when Tyler bats his arm away and tells both of them to knock it off.

“Will one of you answer me?”

“You won’t believe me if I say ‘no,’” is all Tyler says. “I don’t know how else to tell you that it’s none of your business.”

“If it wasn’t for Debby, we’d basically be married, and Jordan’s my brother, so, _yeah,_ I think it’s sort of my business.”

Jordan kicks Josh in the shin and he’s not gentle about it.

Josh calls him a little shit and Tyler has to break up their slap fight after Josh accidentally knocks his knuckles into his nose.

“For fuck’s sake, _stop_ with the slap fights. Josh, when your brother and I have a chance to talk about it while we’re _not_ on tour, I’ll let you know, alright? You’re pissing me off. Get the hell out.”

Josh is satisfied enough with that, and he leaves, saying something about seeing Tyler at soundcheck.

Once the door closes behind him, Jordan nudges Tyler back a little bit. He makes a show out of looking at Tyler’s nose, even taking his chin in his hand and moving his face around, before saying, “I think you’ll pull through, Ty.”

Tyler scrunches his face up a little bit, but his expression softens when Jordan kisses him on the mouth.

“Ignore my stupid brother.”

“That’s what I planned on doing.”

*

They’re in Brooklyn when Tyler takes a picture of Jordan. He’s not thinking about it when he does it. One minute he’s picking at a salad, and the next he’s holding his phone up and taking a picture of Jordan.

Jordan’s on the floor messing with Jim, since Josh is off doing an interview, and he just looks so fucking adorable. Jim’s down low, with his ass sticking up, and Jordan looks focused in the way someone does when trying to rile a dog up.

Tyler posts the picture on his Instagram and captions it with, _“jebbywon’t let me have thepassword to the jimaccount.”_

*

Tyler thinks to himself that he’s unstoppable when he finds himself having to make a separate album on his phone just for pictures of Jordan that he’s taken within a few days of the first one. He knows why he does it—he did it to Jenna and he still does it to Josh, albeit not as much as he used to. He can’t help it. He takes pictures of those that he loves because he’s afraid of forgetting the moment.

*

They find the time to go to Disney World in Orlando. Josh and Debby split off and go one way, since they decide to make it a date, and Tyler and Jordan find somewhere to buy french fries to share. They’re in some roped off section, for _security reasons_ (not that Tyler minds it—he’s not in the mood to get mobbed) and he’s munching on a french fry when he says, “I wish I was out.”

Jordan turns his head a little bit to look at him. “Yeah? Why?”

“I’d _love_ to hold your hand, but…” Tyler nods towards a group of people that are looking at them with a weird look in their eyes, and not at all being sneaky about snapping pictures. “Can’t do that in public like this. Added, my parents would quit talking to me again if they knew, probably.”

Jordan snorts. “I came out when Josh came out. They were close to kicking him out, and I figured they wouldn’t have the nerve to kick _both_ of us out. I was right. My parents are cool about it now, though.”

“What are you, anyways?”

“I told my parents that I was bi, because I didn’t want to explain what pansexual meant. I don’t really have a preference when it comes to dating. You?”

“Same deal, pretty much, I guess. I like who I like. If I get along with someone and that someone happens to be a man, then whatever. Josh and Jenna are the only two people I’ve ever really been with, besides you.” Tyler’s keeping his voice quiet, because he doesn’t want to risk anyone aside from Jordan and the security guard hearing him. (This security guard is good at acting like he’s not listening.)

“Surprisingly enough, I’ve mostly been with dudes. I’ve had a few girlfriends, but nothing’s ever worked out for more than a few months.” Jordan shrugs, and reaches over to dip a french fry into the container of ketchup that Tyler’s holding.

*

Tyler gets a picture of his hand caressing Jordan’s cheek, and Jordan leaning into it, looking all cute and photogenic like he always does, and this is the first time he realizes that Tyler takes pictures of him every chance he gets.

He hears the camera shutter on Tyler’s phone go off, and he stays still long enough to make sure the picture worked, before asking, “Are you doing the thing where you take pictures of whoever you’re with?”

Tyler’s embarrassed, because he definitely is, but Jordan just looks excited and flattered and he’s smiling. He’s sheepish about admitting it as he lets his hand fall back to his side.

Jordan grins wide. “Josh told me that if you started taking pictures of me, then that’s how I’d know it’s for real.”

Tyler makes a face at him.

*

They get a month off between the last few shows in Columbus and the handful of festivals they have to do in Europe.

It’s not an eventful month, really.

Tyler lingers around Jordan’s apartment and Jordan lingers around Tyler’s house more than necessary and with red cheeks they kind of sort of have to agree that they have _something_ romantic going on.

(Tyler’s sure to text Josh to say, _“i’m dating ur brother. suck it.”)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jordler 2: electric boogaloo

Tyler’s not unfamiliar with the rumors about his relationship with Jordan.

Most of the rumors are harmless and don’t have a whole lot of substance to them—pictures where they’re standing a little too close to each other, or their interactions on Twitter and Instagram.

The first time that any of the rumors have any substance, at all, that isn’t just speculation, happens when pictures from Josh and Debby’s wedding (which takes place later in the year in Cabo San Lucas) are posted.

In the picture, they’re slow dancing, and at least in the photo, they’re the center of attention. Jordan has his head on Tyler’s shoulder, and they’re swaying back and forth, having a _moment,_ and one of the wedding photographers happens to capture it.

Tyler gives Debby the green light to post it when she asks him about it a month and a half later over Facetime. He’s in his kitchen in Columbus trying and mostly succeeding to make himself dinner. She’s in LA with Josh, looking through wedding pictures, and she points her phone camera towards her laptop, and asks, _“Can I please post this? It’s so adorable.”_

Tyler squints at his phone. He doesn’t have his contacts in and he’s wrist deep in a bowl of ground beef. He realizes what the picture is pretty quickly, though. He’s very familiar with what Jordan looks like. “I mean… _I_ don’t give a shit, but I don’t think the label would be too happy about it,” he tells her. “And, I mean… You should ask Jordan, too.”

“ _Dude, the label would probably let you get away with murder, so long as we’re successful,”_ Josh chimes in. He must be nearby, Tyler figures.

“Murder is a fuck of a lot different than being gay, Josh.”

“ _But you’re not gay.”_ Debby points out.

“Oh, like people give a shit about the technicalities and fine nuances of my sexuality.” Tyler snorts. “God forbid my sexuality be fluid.”

“ _Hm… That’s true,”_ Debby mumbles. She switches her phone camera back to the front one, and sets her phone down on whatever surface her laptop is on. All Tyler can see is some of her hair and the left part of her jaw. _“I’ll probably be torn to shreds for daring to out you.”_ He can imagine her rolling her eyes.

“They’re _your_ wedding photos. If someone has something rude to say, then they’re an asshole, plain and simple. Also… You should send me a print of that picture.”

“ _Of you and Jordan?”_

“Yes.”

And she does. (She also sends a portrait of herself, as a joke, and it makes him laugh.) Tyler gets it in the mail a few weeks later, and he finds a frame to put it in. She also ends up posting the picture, after getting Jordan’s blessing to do it, and for the first time the rumors have substance to them.

*

Jordan moves in a few weeks before Thanksgiving after the lease to his apartment ends.

Tyler has a conversation with Jenna after he suggests to Jordan that he moves in, and all she has to say is, _“If you want my blessing, as your ex wife, then you have it. You’ve known him almost as long you’ve known Josh, and we were only dating for a few months before we moved in together, so, no, I don’t think you’re moving too fast.”_

Tyler appreciates it.

*

They share a bedroom, too, and Tyler realizes how much he’s missed living with someone. When Josh comes over to help Jordan move some of his stuff, he tells Tyler that he’s always seemed to function better when he has someone to come home to.

*

“Are you sure it’s not weird that I live here?” Jordan asks, wanting clarification, as the two of them are sitting down for dinner the first night he’s officially moved in. “I mean… You lived here with your wife, man. I feel like it’s weird.”

“You’re just as much a part of my life as Jenna was, and still is, and… I mean… This is my home. The way I look at it is that I’m just excited to be sharing my life with someone again. Also, you need somewhere to live. This house comes with two benefits—no bills or rent, _and_ a built in boyfriend. Point is—I don’t feel weird about you living here. Most of my worries are that… Maybe we’re moving too fast, but… We’ve been friends for almost ten years.”

Jordan scrunches his face up a little bit, but smiles. “You’re right, you’re right. Added… It’s not like we’re both going to be here all the time, y’know? I travel for work, and so do you.”

“Exactly. Everything will be fine.”

*

Tyler spends Thanksgiving with Jordan’s family instead of his own. (He also wonders when it quit being _Josh_ _’s_ family, and started being _Jordan_ _’s_ family.)

Thanksgiving with Jordan’s family is more of a low key event than it would’ve been with Tyler’s family. Tyler feels a little out of place, at least at first, since he’s still mentally in that sweet spot between being Josh’s friend and Jordan’s boyfriend.

Josh spends Thanksgiving with Debby’s family, and Ashley spends thanksgiving with her husband’s family, so, _really,_ it’s a pretty small event.

It’s awkward at first. Tyler comes bearing a casserole—a recipe he stole from his own mother—and a store bought pumpkin pie, plus a bottle of sparkling cider.

He’s expecting to get one of those weird _if-you-hurt-my-son-I_ _’ll-kill-you_ talks from Jordan’s parents, but it doesn’t happen. Everyone sits around the table, and says grace, before falling into a casual conversation, and no threats are made.

Tyler likes the Dun family. (Of course he does.) Their household is a calm and comforting place and Tyler doesn’t feel on edge, doesn’t feel as if he needs to act like someone else in an attempt to save face.

*

Tyler’s sitting on the patio indulging in one of his thrice yearly cigarettes when Josh texts him to ask him how it’s going.

“ _Has my dad threatened you? Is my mom asking you when you and my brother are having kids? Have you said anything embarrassing? I need to know.”_

“ _you are so nosy.”_ Tyler smiles a little bit and flicks ashes into an ashtray before using his index finger to type out another message. _“no, no, and no. i keep forgetting that your parents already know me, and that i don’t have to put on an act in front of them. it’s weird how_ not _weird this feels._ _”_

“ _My parents are cool. How about yours? Are your parents bummed that you didn’t spend the holiday with them?”_

“ _a little bit, but they’ll get over it. i just told them i was spending it with your family this year. i think they know i’m seeing jordan, but no one’s said anything, so maybe they think i’m just third wheeling with you and deborah. or maybe they think we finally got together? lol.”_

“ _If I ever get divorced, my ass is yours. I promise.”_

“ _i know my dick is bomb, but don’t get divorced for it.”_

“ _Lmao. I won’t. What are you doing right now? Ma always gets onto me and Jordan for being on our phones.”_

“ _smoking, on your parents patio. idk what your brother is doing but he’s not with me right now. i love your family, but i needed a little break to decompress. shit, there aren’t even that many people here. just me, your parents, your brother, and abigail. i worked myself up for nothing before i got here.”_

“ _That sounds familiar, yes. You do that a lot. You’re okay, right?”_

“ _yeah, dude. i have many feelings in my body right now but overall, i’m happy. you feel?”_

“ _That’s kind of how I’m feeling tonight. It’s weird spending Thanksgiving with your wife’s (wife!!! :D) family, just after getting married.”_

“ _oh, yeah, i get that. i was stressed as fuck spending thanksgiving with jenna’s family after we got married, haha. many, many invasive questions were asked that year.”_

“ _God, yeah. ‘When are you having children?’ Idk! Probably when we’re not in the middle of an album cycle! Or while she’s not in the middle of working! Or any time soon, really! Such an invasive question. Very distasteful.”_

“ _lmao. i think if me and jenna were still together we’d probably be having kids within the next year or two. i suppose kids are being postponed for at least another five years.”_

“ _Kids are cool but it’s best to wait until the time is right, IMO. Anyways, Debby is telling me to get off my phone. I’ll call you later to get the rest of the gossip. Is that cool?”_

“ _sounds good. love ya, bro.”_

“ _You too. :)”_

*

Tyler adds more fuel to the rumor fire a few weeks after Thanksgiving.

He and Jordan find the time to decorate a Christmas tree before Jordan is due in Los Angeles for work, and Tyler takes a picture of his boyfriend sitting on the floor with no shirt on in just sweatpants, going through boxes of ornaments.

He posts it on Instagram and captions it with, _“and they were roommates.”_

He’s not usually one for memes, but Jordan draws it out of him and he laughs when he sees the post, so that’s all that matters.

The post starts a new round of speculation and Tyler doesn’t pay any attention to it. His relationship with Jordan is just that—it’s _his._ He doesn’t need to share it, even with as much as he loves his fans.

*

Tyler’s hanging around his parent’s house, helping them decorate for Christmas after Jordan leaves for the next few weeks, when his mom approaches him. She shoos Jay off, telling him to go take care of something in a different room, if only to have a chance to corner her eldest son. Tyler’s standing on a chair, hanging a sprig of mistletoe in the arch leading into the kitchen when she says, “We haven’t spoken in awhile.”

Tyler’s usually polite with her, but he can’t stop himself from making a snide remark. “Maybe it’s because you and dad didn’t talk to me for six months last year after I filed for a divorce. Food for thought, I guess.” He takes tinsel when it’s handed to him. He knows how she likes to decorate for Christmas, and doesn’t need any instructions on how to hang the tinsel over the arch.

She doesn’t try defending herself, but she doesn’t apologize either. She asks him if he’s seeing anyone, and asks him to be honest with her.

And he is. “I am seeing someone, yes.” Tyler repeats the facts that he’s a millionaire and that he’s an adult in his head, over and over, as he waits for her to ask something else.

He feels as if this is playing out like a poorly written movie. She asks him if it’s Jordan, mentioning that she saw the picture from Josh’s wedding.

“That depends. Are you going to stop talking to me for another six months if I say yes?”

“No.”

Tyler steps down from the chair, and moves it to just under a shelf, near a wall, so he can stand up, and she can hand him more decorations to set out. “We’ve been… _seeing_ each other for almost a year now, I guess.”

She asks him if this means he’s gay now, and Tyler barely manages to not roll his eyes.

“What it _means_ is that I have a boyfriend, and that he’s important to me. And, before you ask, no, I didn’t get divorced from Jenna because of my sexuality.”

“And what _does_ she think about it?”

Tyler manages not to sigh, either. Both of his parents are too nosy for their own goods. “We were together for almost seven years, Ma. If she wasn’t okay with that part of me that loves men, then we wouldn’t have been together for so long. I mean, shit, she’s been one of my biggest supporters, next to Josh and Debby, when it comes to me and my relationship with Jordan.”

Tyler wasn’t really expecting to come out to her, or to do it so casually either, but he figures that, at this point, he already had one foot out of the closet, and that he really has nothing to lose by coming the rest of the way out. The two of them are silent as they work together to get decorations set onto the shelf, until she asks him if he _loves_ Jordan.

Tyler looks over his shoulder to give her a weird look. “I mean, I don’t _hate_ him. He’s a nice guy, and I like what I have with him.” He shrugs, then he breaks eye contact. He’s not saying that, out loud, to _her,_ of all people, before he says it to Jordan himself. “He’s easy to be with, and things aren’t complicated with him, which… Well, it’s nice. It's a good change of pace.” He also changes the subject after that, to something more casual, if only to get her off his back.

*

Jordan really is easy to be with, he realizes. Tyler doesn’t feel any pressure from being with him, he doesn’t feel as if there’s some sort of unspoken tension between the two of them, mostly because when there _is,_ Jordan doesn’t hesitate to say something, nor does he hesitate to tell Tyler that he needs to start speaking up when he feels like something isn’t right, whether it be something in their relationship, or with him personally, or _whatever_.

Jordan says to him one time, too, while they’re having a talk; “If we’re doing this, then we’re doing this, and I don’t want us breaking up because we feel like we can’t talk to each other. No offense, but I’m not going to baby you like Jenna did—not there’s anything wrong with that—and I can’t— _we_ can’t read minds. This is a two way street, bro. We have to talk our problems out rather than keeping our shit bottled up, and letting it turn into resentment, _thus_ ultimately ruining whatever it is that we have.”

Tyler’s heart feels about twice its size, and he _could_ cry. He doesn’t, but if he tried hard enough, he’s pretty sure he could. He says, “That—that all means a lot to me, more than you’d think.” Then, he adds, “I think I love you.”

Jordan’s reaction isn’t what Tyler expected. For a moment, he looks shocked, before he sighs and rolls his eyes. He’s smiling and laughing a little bit. “You can’t sweet talk your way out of conflict by telling me that you love me.” He pokes Tyler in the chest, then kisses him on the mouth. “I love you too, though, Tyler.”

*

“I told Jordan that I love him,” Tyler blurts. He’s at Jenna’s apartment for breakfast, before she has work. (She made a comment when Tyler got there about how, since they’ve been divorced, she’s had to actually start modeling again, and Tyler apologizes but says that, maybe, it could be a good thing. He also tells her that he’ll ask around and see about getting more work thrown her way, and she thanks him.)

“Did you? That’s good.” She has a pleasant look on her face.

“No, Jenna. This is—this is, like, a serious thing for me. I don’t just tell people that.”

“Do you, though?”

“Do I what?”

“Do you _love_ him, dummy.” She dunks a slice of bread into French toast batter with a pair of tongs before tossing it into a frying pan. “If you love him, then it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”

“I _do._ I love him very much, but I kind of said it on accident…? I mean, I was hoping to save it for a more romantic time—not while we’re trying to sort out a fight we had.”

“A fight?” She raises her eyebrows and makes eye contact with him. “Do tell.”

“It was just… You know that problem _we_ had, where we didn’t talk? And how it ultimately lead to us getting a divorce when shit wasn’t working out? We were starting to do that, but he put his foot down, and for some reason my tiny little _pea_ brain,” he holds his thumb and index finger together to get his point across, “decided that it would be an opportune time for me to tell him that I love him. He said it back, by the way. It struck a chord with me I guess.” He pouts a bit, and leans against her fridge with his arms crossed.

“You told me that you loved me the first night we met, Ty. I honestly think that’s miles more responsible than how you told me.”

“Yeah, but, you turned down my advances for, like, six months.” Tyler laughs. “It’s not like I said that, then we immediately got together. Sometimes I feel like I’m being a little too eager.”

“You’re thirty one and you’ve been divorced for over a year. You’re allowed to move on and fall in love with someone else, just as I am.”

“Have you? Met anyone, I mean.”

She shakes her head. “Nah. I need some time to get used to being single. I was eighteen when we got together, and we were married for three years.” She flips the slice of french toast over. “I’ve been in a relationship for most of my adult life, and my therapist thinks that giving myself some time to breathe and to get to know myself again outside of a relationship would be a worthwhile venture, _especially_ considering _who_ I’ve been in a relationship with. It’s… kind of an experience, being married to a celebrity, _and_ getting divorced from one.”

“Recently I’ve stopped wishing that we could’ve worked it out. Does that sound bad? I feel like that sounds bad.”

She shakes her head, and asks him to elaborate. She still has a pleasant look on her face.

“It’s just… We were unhappy. You weren’t happy, and near the end, I wasn’t either. I don’t want to go back to that. I’m also in a relationship anyways, one that, so far, is working out a lot better than ours did. Does that sound mean? I feel like it’s mean.” Tyler winces and chews on his cheek, tapping his fingers against his arm.

“It’s not mean for us to acknowledge that we had problems in our relationship, and not acknowledging that is _literally_ why we got divorced. Continue, though.” She takes the current slice of french toast, and sets it onto a plate that contains three other slices, before getting to making the next one.

“I’ve stopped wishing for our thing to have worked out, because I like what I have with him, a lot, and it’s unfair to him for me to be pining for something that’s never going to happen again. It feels weird to want all of these things out of a different relationship when you’ve spent so long convincing yourself you were going to spend eternity with a different person.”

“If anything, man, I think it’s a good sign for your relationship if you’re moving on and putting in the work towards a future with him. That’s just my opinion, though.”

*

Tyler buys a house in Los Angeles in the middle of the next year after another leg of touring. Jordan pays for part of it, too, and in buying a new house, if only out of convenience for either of them, he realizes that he’s absolutely not required to come out of the closet.

He also realizes that he’s not required to hide his relationship, either.

They have Josh take a picture of them sitting on the bottom step of the deck in their backyard, and Tyler posts it on Instagram; _“and they were roommates 2: electric boogaloo.”_

Jordan also posts a picture on Instagram, one where he’s leaning against one of the counters in the kitchen with oven mitts on, holding a spatula and a frying pan. It’s a goofy picture; _“guess a homeowner should learn how to cook, huh?”_

A few weeks later during an interview, when he’s questioned about his ‘roommate,’ all he says is, _“Honestly, man, I function better when I live with someone, and he’s helped me find a lot of peace in my life. It’s not complicated.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED I SAT DOWN TO WRITE AND ENDED UP FINISHING A SECOND CHAPTER TO THIS SO FUCKIN UMMMMMMMMM TAKE IT I GUESS
> 
> i edited it a little bit and tried to fix all the errors/funky sounding phrases i could but i probably missed some stuff its fine

**Author's Note:**

> edy started it with wood chips then mack and edy both egged me on smh :/
> 
> i have more written and if it ever like turns into anything ill add an extra chapter but for now i think this is good


End file.
